Fewer Danes getting black work done

Proportion of Danes who pay for ‘black work’ fell by 13 percent between 2010 and 2014

The Danish tax authority SKAT is most probably rubbing its hands with glee at the latest figures involving work that is paid ‘under the table’.

A new survey from the Rockwool Foundation reveals the proportion of Danes who pay for ‘black work’ has dropped from 53 percent in 2010 to 40 percent in 2014.

“One possible explanation is that Parliament passed some laws in that period that has given SKAT better control and made it possible to punish those who pay for black work,” Camilla Hvidtfeldt, a researcher at the Rockwool Foundation, told DR Nyheder.

More risky
Hvidtfeldt said that people see working black as being more risky today compared to before, and thus many are not willing to engage in it.

The survey also revealed that 22 percent of Danes aged 18-74 had worked black during that past year, which is about the same as the previous five years.

But those who worked black in 2014 mostly cut down compared to how much they had done before.